A year before the state of Gujarat goes to polls, Vijay Rupani resigned as its Chief Minister on September 11. Rupani told the media that the decision was taken by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the “larger interest of Gujarat” adding, “With my resignation, the party’s new leadership will get an opportunity. And we will all take Gujarat to new heights under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.” 

Gujarat CM #Vijayrupani has resigned

— Organiser Weekly (@eOrganiser) September 11, 2021

He met the media outside Raj Bhavan shortly after tendering his resignation to Governor Acharya Devavrat. This coincidentally came hours after Rupani extended birthday greetings to RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat. 

श्रेष्ठ संगठक, प्रखर विचारक एवं विश्वके सबसे बड़े स्वयंसेवी संगठन @RSSorg के पूजनीय सरसंघचालक श्री @DrMohanBhagwat जी को जन्मदिनकी हार्दिक शुभकामनाएं।

राष्ट्र-समाज के नवनिर्माण में आपका सहयोग व समर्पण अविस्मरणीय है।ईश्वर से आपके उत्तम स्वास्थ्य व दीर्घायु जीवन की कामना करता हूं।

— Vijay Rupani (@vijayrupanibjp) September 11, 2021

Rupani, has maintained that he has stepped down willingly from the CM’s post, and called it a “natural process in our party. The party worker gets different responsibilities at different times. We do not call it a post, we call it a responsibility. Now, I will shoulder whatever responsibility the party gives me.” According to a report in the Indian Express he called it a “relay race. Everybody runs and moves ahead. I had the responsibility for five years. I was running. Now, I will give the flag to someone else. (Now) He will run” 

However, it is clear that Rupani has had no choice in the matter and has been told to follow the orders from the top. Rupani told the media that it was Prime Minister Narendra Modi who was the face of the party, and that the Gujarat Assembly elections due in December 2022, will be fought under the PM’s leadership. According to the report, Rupani’s resigned hours after “attending the ground breaking ceremony of an educational complex of the Patidar community on the outskirts of Gandhinagar. PM Modi had made a virtual address at the event.” Reports are suggesting that there was pressure from Patidars that the next chief minister of Gujarat should be from their community.

Meanwhile, names of Gujarat’s Deputy CM Nitin Patel as well as state BJP president CR Paatil have begun doing the rounds, as possible candidates for the CM’s job. Recently Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel was in the news for making controversial statements about the Constitution, and secularism. As reported by Indian Express and other media he was speaking at the Bharat Mata Mandir in Gandhinagar, during the idol installation ceremony, organised by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, and said, “In our country, some people talk about the Constitution, secularism. But I tell you, and if you want to video record this, then do it…Note down my words. Those talking about the Constitution, secularism, law etc will do so only till Hindus are in majority in this country… The day… the number of Hindus decreases, of others’ increases, [there will be] no secularism, no Lok Sabha, no Constitution. Everything will be (tossed) in the air and buried. Nothing will remain.”

BJP president CR Paatil too was in the news for urging co-operative leaders in Gandhinagar to participate in planting 71 lakh trees in the state as part of celebration of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birthday. According to Indian Express “Paatil sought participation of cooperative bodies in celebrations of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birthday on 17th September and helped achieve the target of planting 71 lakh trees during a pan-state simultaneous tree plantation drive. He appealed to cooperative leaders to make Modi’s birthday memorable by taking up this task of environment conservation.”

For the now ex-CM Rupani, social media users aligning with the Opposition began reminding everyone that his biggest ‘achievement’ was renaming the Dragon Fruit as  ‘Kamalam’ in Gujarat. In January Vijay Rupani had announced, “The State government has decided to rename Dragon Fruit. As the outer shape of the fruit resembles a lotus, hence Dragon Fruit shall be renamed as Kamalam.”

Biggest achievement of @vijayrupanibjp’s public life:

Renaming “Dragon Fruit” as “Kamalam”. ?#VijayRupani #Gujarat pic.twitter.com/RriSUAuz4V

— Saral Patel (@SaralPatel) September 11, 2021

Related:

Police cracking down on voluntary interfaith unions in Guj, UP
Gujarat: Harvard-UCB study reports 16,000 excess deaths during Covid pandemic!

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Residents of the Ladies Shri Ram College (LSR) hostel released a statement on November 10, 2020 that demanded the resignation of the warden while condemning the inaction and apathy of the administration that resulted in the death of a second-year scholarship student.

Signing the statement “in rage,” hostel residents demanded full accountability from the hostel administration and resignation of the hostel warden Dr. Ujjayini Ray and Principal, Dr. Suman Sharma as a way of assuming moral responsibility. Further, they demanded revocation of hostel policies on vacation and withdrawal of the decision to convert the three-year hostel into a first-year-students only hostel.

The latter has been a persisting demand of LSR hostel residents since 2019 when the one-year hostel policy was first implemented. At the time, students were compelled to sign a letter limiting their period of residence to a year, if at all they were to receive affordable accommodation. However, student bodies continued to demand a three-year period of residence.

When the vacation notice came to the students amidst a global pandemic, students blamed the institution for neglecting the financial, logistical and health conditions suffered by students.

According to the students, this same negligence abetted the death by suicide of the second-year hostel resident who was to receive an INSPIRE scholarship by the central government. The girl died on November 3 following delay in scholarship money and the alleged pressure by hostel and college authorities.

“That the hostel and college administration can cite the pandemic as a reason for delaying a governing body decision on the status of the hostel that may as well be easily taken through online means, but can forcibly summon students from all over India to vacate and search for expensive alternative accommodation in the midst of the same pandemic shows their hypocrisy,” said the statement.

On October 20, students had received the latest vacation notification that extended the deadline to November 10 and stated that those residents who fail to vacate will have their things moved by packers which the hostel will employ while taking no responsibility for lost items.

“By force and harassment, the hostel administration made students travel in a pandemic to vacate the hostel for the supposed repair and maintenance to prepare the hostel for the new batch, about whose arrival even the hostel was not sure of,” said the students.

They were further incensed by the warden’s claims that the second-year scholarship student never approached the hostel administration about her grievances.

“A large number of students had written requests to get a deadline extension till college reopening which was outrightly denied … That an institutional failure of the hostel to provide a reasonable respite to students is blamed on [the girl] for not approaching the hostel admin for a few days’ extension is a hollow and insensitive argument,” they said.

The student body argued that not all students are privileged enough to have close contacts in Delhi who could pack and send their belongings to them. Further, since many out-of-station students left the hostel in a hurry in March due to the nationwide lockdown, their belongings were not properly packed or arranged. Many students were uncomfortable in asking a third unknown or distant person to organise and pack all their belongings from scratch for genuine reasons. They also pointed out that inter-state transport of their items would be extremely expensive and unaffordable for many students.

Moreover, students were angered by the warden’s outright denial to have any direct communication with second-year residents claiming that they “were” residents and no longer “are” since their contract was only till May 2020.

“It was put across as the hostel’s generosity that it kept their luggage from June to October 2020, when it was in truth the hostel admin themselves who urged students to move out during the pandemic lockdown leaving behind their luggage. To consider a necessary and natural measure that the hostel must do to keep our belongings in the wake of a pandemic imposed nationwide lockdown, as a generosity of the hostel, is a clear evasion of the sense of responsibilities that the hostel has towards its resident body,” they said.

The complete letter written by the residents along with all proof of correspondence between the warden, hostel committee, hostel students’ union and hostel residents can be viewed in the document below:

Related:

Delhi and Telangana students demand justice for LSR student’s death by suicide
Student organisations call LSR student suicide an institutional murder
LSR Student Union claim institutional and administrative apathy led to student suicide
How Women At India’s College Hostels Are Winning Freedom

The post LSR students demand resignation of hostel warden and college principal appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Anandiben Patel has “offered” to resign as chief minister of Gujarat triggering speculation in political circles over whether this only marks an end to her personal political career or also the beginning of the end of the BJP’s nearly two-decade long uninterrupted rule over Gujarat, a state claimed by the sangh parivar as its “successful laboratory of Hindutva”.

In her Facebook post today Patel claims to have written to the BJP high command saying it’s time for her to go as she is nearing the 75-years age limit for party leaders set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. She also claimed her departure will give time for the new CM to rise and shine during the ‘Vibrant Gujarat Summit’ scheduled for January 2017.

Political observers however believe the outpouring of Dalit rage, the already agitated Patidar community and the Aam Admi Party’s growing footprint in the state have together forced Patel and the party high command to read the writing on the wall.     

The state has been rocked with extensive Dalit protests after four Dalit youths were brutally beaten for skinning a dead cow. Another Dalit youth committed suicide on Sunday after consuming poison to protest the Una beatings. At least 18 Dalit youth have attempted suicide in the state following the attacks. 

Hardik Patel, the Patidar leader who had earlier paralysed the state government over its demand for reservations for the Patel community, was released from jail a fortnight ago, after nine months. He has been ordered to stay out of the state for another nine months but the Patidar leader has vowed to continue his struggle to obtain OBC status for the Patel community. 

In the 2002 anti-Muslim carnage in Gujarat under the watch of then state chief minister, Narendra Modi, Dalits had been deployed as foot soldiers. But history seemed to take a U-turn on July 27 when a large number of Dalits and Muslims marched together in Naroda Patia, down the same streets which had witnessed the worst massacre of Muslims in the state in 2002. As significantly, Muslims joined thousands of Dalits at the mega-convention in Ahmedabad on Sunday to protest against the Una outrage.

Earlier this month, AAP leader and Delhi CM, Arvind Kejriwal was in Gujarat with his “one booth, 10 youth” campaign to dislodge the BJP from power.

Is Patel’s impending departure a precursor to the BJP’s humbling at the Assembly elections due next year?
 

The post Anandiben Patel’s Offer to Quit: Beginning of the End of BJP’s Nearly 20-years Old Reign in Gujarat? appeared first on SabrangIndia.

R. K. SHAH / NAYANA BHATT                Office:-           3, Sardar Patel Chambers,
Spl./Asst. Spl. Public Prosecutor                                            Vasant Chowk, Bhadra,
            (Gulberg Case)                                                            Ahmedabad – 380001
                                                                                                Phone (O.) 25507163
 
                                                                                                            Date: 25-02-2010
 
To,
Chairman,
Special Investigation Team,
Godhra Riot Cases,
BL.11, Dr. Jivraj Mehta Bhavan,
Gandhinagar.
 
                                    Sub:-   Meghaninagar Police Station I.C.R. No. 67/02
                                                S.C. No. 152/02 (Gulberg Case)
 
Sir,
 
            We occasionally used to have conferences with SIT or one or other member or members thereof and exchanged piecemeal our views about the investigation and trial.
 
            We had such last meeting on 19.02.2010 and in the said meeting you alongwith Mr. Paramvir Singh, Mr. Ashish Bhatia were present. The Investigation Officers Shri J.M. Suthar, Dy. S.P., Shri Goswami, P.I. and Shri Parmar, P.S.I. were also present and it appeared at the meeting that Mr. Ashish Bhatia and the Investigation Officers had misplaced grievances against us and we had clarified the matters. However, thereafter later I (R.K. Shah) called Mr. Paramvir Singh on his cellphone and offered to resign.
 
            You are aware that the trial started in the right earnest and was proceeding expeditiously and by now about 290 witnesses are examined and about 50 or so witnesses remain to be examined and the rest I propose to drop.
 
            It is needless to state that the witnesses are being summoned 8 years of the incident and many panch witnesses and witnesses from the public could be traced with difficulty and some could not be traced. Many police personnel had retired and many had been transferred to various places. The victim eye-witnesses were deposing after 8 years. They had grown old, their eye-sight might have been weakened and might be having fading memory.
 
            The attitude of the Learned Judge towards the witnesses, particularly victims-eye witnesses has by and large remained hostile and unsympathetic. He browbeats them or threatens them or taunts them. He does not allow witnesses to go to dock for the purpose of identification and insists for identification from the witness box as if he is holding test identification parade and the most material evidence regarding identification of the accused gets affected.
 
            The recording of evidence is also not satisfactory. He generally does not record the explanation given by a witness. Particularly while recording cross-examination, in the name of non-interference in cross-examination, he does not allow us to object a question. The contradictions with the police statements are correctly recorded as per Sec. 145 of the Evidence Act. The witnesses are not properly confronted with the previous statements and their explanation is not sought and a witness, if voluntarily, explains it is not recorded and thus the whole object of Sec. 145 of the Evidence Act is marred.
 
Though the statements before police during investigation are not admissible the Learned Judge records them in breach of Sec. 162 of the Cr. P.C. In one such order he has observed that the Special Public Prosecutor does not refresh the memory of the witness by using such statement. He even records hearsay evidence. There is a general feeling that he is hostile to the prosecution.
 
            He does not read out the evidence to the witnesses as provided in Sec. 278 Cr. P.C., even after the written application by the Learned Advocates for the victim-eye witnesses and the precious right of the witnesses is lost.
 
            The Learned Judge sometimes puts questions to the witnesses which also reflect the bias.
 
            You are aware that the victim eye witnesses filed affidavit during the course of hearing of the application u/s. 319 Cr. P.C. and expressed their apprehension that they will not get justice. Those allegations are to be looked at in the above back ground.
 
            The Learned Judge insults and humiliates the Special Public Prosecutor for no reason and often sarcastically reminds him that he is the most Sr. Public Prosecutor. He off and on tries to belittle the Special Public Prosecutor.
 
            As regards the investigation, full papers of investigation are not supplied to us and many-a-times the statements of witnesses are provided when they are in the witness box. For example, when I (R.K. Shah) was examining the important witness like Mr. M. K. Tandon, the then Jt. Police Commissioner, his further statement before police and a copy of his affidavit before Nanavati Commission were put in my hand; when Mr. P. B. Gondia, the then DCP-Zone-4 was in the witness box his two previous statements before police and a copy of his affidavit before Nanavati Commission were given to me. On 17.02.2010 when more than 250 witnesses were already examined and six months had elapsed after the trial began a bunch of papers including many statements of witnesses recorded as for back as 01.04.2009 were given to me at the time when I was examining a witness in the Court room. This is something which no Investigation Officer would do.
 
            All the while Mr. Bhatia insisted upon to see that the victim eye-witnesses should depose according to their statements before SIT. It may please be seen that the witnesses speak as per their first statement before SIT but they disown their further statements which I find to be damaging to the prosecution and at times wiping out their first statements. I fail to understand why such further statements were required to be recorded which no witness would admit particularly when they have engaged a private lawyer.
 
            CD produced by Mr. Rahul Sharma, its copy taken out by Mr. Gemad and the transcript are yet not produced before the Court.
 
            Mr. Ashish Khaitan is summoned by the Court on 08.03.2010 but I do not know where do we stand about FSL opinion and when the camera, chips, laptop etc. used by Mr. Khaitan are going to be produced and when we will be able to interview Mr. Khaitan though we had expressed our desire to do so much earlier.
 
            In this week, on 22/2 and 23/2 the witnesses were examined from 11:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Even on 24/2 a witnesses was cross-examined till about 1:00 p.m. and then there was no witness available as Mr. Singhal though present could not be examined in view of the fact that he had filed charge-sheet in the case and two other witnesses did not turn up. We gave detailed application for adjournment for the remaining time in the day. The Learned Judge was wild at me (R.K. Shah) and he began to shout at me. I had to tell him that I was not on trial and he should not behave in that fashion and thereafter he passed without our consent the order summoning the witnesses on 2/3, 3/3 and 8/3 and directed me to make an application on 03.03.2010 as to whom I want to examine on what day. Expeditious trial on day to day basis does not mean hurried trial at the cost of justice. It is not the spirit of the order of the Hon’ble Apex Court which has also observed in its order as under:
 
            “(iv)     It is imperative, considering the nature and sensitivity of these nominated cases, and the history of the entire litigation, that senior judicial officers be appointed so that these trials can be concluded as soon as possible and in the most satisfactory manner. In order to ensure that all concerned have the highest degree of confidence in the system being put in place…..”.
 
            Under the above said facts and circumstances we feel that we won’t be able to do justice to the cause of the prosecution and we are constrained to resign and enclose herewith our resignation letters for being forwarded to Legal Department, Sachivalaya, Gandhinagar.
 
Encl: As above                                                                                    Yours truly,
 
 
                                                                                                            R. K. Shah
                                                                                                Special Public Prosecutor
 
 
                                                                                                            Nayana B. Bhatt
                                                                                    Asstt. Special Public Prosecutor
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                                                                            Date: 25.02.2010
 
 
To,
Secretary,
Legal Department,
Government of Gujarat,
Sachivalaya,
Gandhinagar
 
 
Sir,
 
 
                                                Sub:-   Resignation
                                                            Meghaninagar Police Station I.C.R. No. 67/02
                                                            (Gulberg Case)
 
            The way in which the trial is being held and the prosecution dealt with I am unable to do justice to the prosecution and hence I resign from the post of the Special Public Prosecutor in the above case. Kindly accept the same and relieve me.
 
 
                                                                                                Yours faithfully,
 
 
 
                                                                                                (R.K. Shah)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                                                                            Date: 25.02.2010
 
To,
Secretary,
Legal Department,
Government of Gujarat,
Sachivalaya,
Gandhinagar
 
Sir,      
 
Sub:-    Resignation
            (Meghaninagar Police Station I.C.R. No. 67/02
            (Gulberg Case)
 
 
            The way in which the trial is being held and the prosecution dealt with I am unable to do justice to the prosecution and hence I resign from the post of the Assistant Special Public Prosecutor in the above case. Kindly accept the same and relieve me.
 
            Moreover, I was recommended by Mr. R.K. Shah as his Assistant and as he has resigned I do not think it proper to continue on the post.
 
 
 
                                                                                                            Yours faithfully,
 
 
                                                                                                            (Nayana B. Bhatt)
 
 
 
                                                           
                                               
                                                                                               
 
 

The post Resignation Letter of Special Public Proecutor RK Shah Stating Deficiency in SIT Investigation and Bias of the Judge (February 2010) appeared first on SabrangIndia.